Some good questions from JV Last

I don’t think there’s any point in denying that the last few weeks have been a total disaster for preserving or salvaging liberal democracy in this country. A couple of months ago there were plenty of people who were sure that Trump’s popularity was going to crater, because how could it not, given where everything was going?

It isn’t happening, and JV Last suggests some reasons why it very well may not, despite the deep unpopularity of the Republican agenda, which somehow never gets attributed to Trump himself by the X number of American voters who seem incapable of or unwilling to engage in basic logical or empirical reasoning. I don’t know what number X is, but the answer is, way too high to offer any obvious escape from this nightmare from which we are trying to awake.

Aug 27, 2025

1. Two weeks

Warning: We’re going extra dark today.

It’s been just two weeks since the president of the United States ordered a military occupation of the nation’s capital. I understand that it feels longer. But I want to highlight for you two things: (1) The pace at which we are moving, and (2) how Trump employs a mix of the ridiculous and the dangerous.

o August 11: Trump announces he is deploying National Guard troops to take over Washington, D.C.

o August 13: Trump declares that he has personally chosen the recipients of the Kennedy Center Honors for 2025.

o August 15: Trump greets Vladimir Putin in Alaska with a red carpet rolled out by kneeling American soldiers and literal applause.

o August 22: Trump announces that the U.S. government has taken a 10 percent ownership stake in Intel.

o August 24: Trump demands that the Baseball Hall of Fame admit Roger Clemens.

o August 25: Trump announces that he has removed Lisa Cook from the Federal Reserve Board of Governors.

o August 26: Trump instructs Cracker Barrel to abandon its new company logo.

This is why you’re exhausted.

A few observations:

(1) Ridiculous but serious. Trump is in many ways a buffoon. So are many dictators.

o Vladimir Putin “discovering” ancient Greek urns while diving.

o Gaddafi maintaining an “Amazonian guard.”

o Jean-Bédel Bokassa declaring himself “emperor” of central Africa.

People who dismiss the danger of Trump and Trumpism because of his buffoonishness are either fools or accomplices.

(2) Omnipresence. Nothing happens in public life without Trump putting his stamp on it. Cooperstown? Cracker Barrel? The Kennedy Center Honors? Trump has a will to dominate them.

He is the living embodiment of the leviathan, the totalized state.

(3) All he does is win. That’s not literally true—Trump does take the occasional loss. But his overall batting average is remarkably high. He is more politically dominant today than he was at this point in 2017, even though he is a physically and mentally faltering (supposedly) lame duck.

How is this possible? Several reasons.

o He has learned to operate outside the world of legislation and purely through executive power.

o His second administration is staffed with button-men who are willing to do whatever he demands, regardless of legality.

o The private sector has accepted subservience.

o The Republican Congress has also completely submitted.

o To a large degree, so has the general public: Trump is significantly more popular today than he was on August 27, 2017.

On that last point, if you want to be truly depressed, look at these two graphs:

[graphs showing Trump’s approval rating trend is better now than it was at this point in 2017]

Those two charts tell the story of a populace coming to terms with authoritarianism.

In the early days of 2017, America experienced the shock of buyer’s remorse. People could not believe what their country had done. But as Trump’s term unfolded he became more popular, despite everything.

There were bumps—a million Americans died because of his handling of the pandemic; he attempted a coup. But each time his approval rebounded.

The clear lesson is that a consistent share of about 44 percent of Americans want this.

And [44 percent + dictatorial control of the government] should be enough to retain power for quite some time.

I realize the last two weeks have seemed interminable. But you haven’t seen anything yet. We’ve got three and a half years left under the best-case scenario.

In the worst case our present condition will persist indefinitely.

I keep saying this, but: Trump is not behaving like a man who intends to ever vacate the White House.

2. 44 Percent

One final thought:

Our impulse is to blame the victim. We come up with rationales for why we are in this spot.

It’s because of woke. Or because Democrats have done a bad job. Or because of inflation. Or because of media bubbles. Or Fox News. Or Facebook. Or because of Joe Biden. Or Hillary Clinton. Or trans people. Or because voters are low-information mouthbreathers.

The reason we reach for these causal theories is because we are desperate to find some button to push, some lever to pull, that will change our situation.

And because no one wants to grapple with the most obvious explanation: That we are here not by accident, or misunderstanding, but because 44 percent of America wants to be here.

Forty-four percent of America consistently returns to Trump and Trumpism. Isn’t it possible—isn’t it likely?—that they have done so again and again over the better part of a decade because they want to be right were we are? With an authoritarian strongman?

I realize this isn’t new ground for us and I’m not even sure what I want you to discuss today in the comments. Except maybe for this:

If it is the case that something like 44 percent—or even 40 percent; or 36 percent—of the country approves of where we are now, then is there any realistic prospect of returning to liberalism?

And if so, how would that work?

I have mixed feelings about Inglourious Basterds as a movie, but this passage from the Brad Pitt character has been running in my head ever since I read about this morning’s school shooting:

Now, I’m a direct descendent of the mountain man Jim Bridger.

That means I got a little Indian in me.

And our battle plan will be that of an Apache resistance.

We will be cruel to the Germans.

And through our cruelty, they will know who we are.

It may well come to that. Increasingly, the alternative seems to be abject surrender to the scum who have ruined this country.

. . . good comment from Shirley0401:

I think it’s nearly impossible for anything like our “present condition” to continue even another six months, let alone another three years.
Other countries are already making adjustments and plans that remove us from equations we’ve long been part of. I’m positive businesses are doing their own version of the same things. The longer the government is run by anti-government vandals, the more things will start to crumble and fail, and the cascading impacts will affect all kinds of things from economic stability to healthcare to education.
As bad as things are now, there are still some question marks. (Like “will there still be midterm elections?”) As these questions are answered, our condition will necessarily change.
I think at this point just about everyone here agrees the country will never even close to fully bounce back. The GOP is too far gone, and as the OP makes clear, they aren’t going to lose nearly enough support to change course. So there’s no coming even close to all the way back from this, ever. While no single other country is going to assume the role the US has had for my entire life, it’s no longer ours to reclaim. We’ve shown the world too much and it’s simply not going to happen.
In my opinion, a ton hinges on elections being run properly, and to be honest I’m not very optimistic. I don’t necessarily think they’re going to cancel them outright or anything like that, but especially because of our stupid electoral college and gerrymandering it really will be possible that a couple hundred goons here and there in a few important urban areas would be enough to cement single-party rule. And if Dem voters can somehow overcome that, of course the results will be challenged, there will be “questions” about “voting integrity.” And most of us, if we’re honest, are unlikely to revolt as long as our electricity (however expensive) and wifi keep working.
This isn’t a reason to give up, but we need to be clear eyed that our “present condition” cannot “persist indefinitely.” Things will either improve or get worse, but I think all evidence points to the latter being more likely, as stability is one of the things that will continue to be most impossible under Trump.